The IT sector will need to recruit at least 5,00,000 professionals in the next five years and there is particularly a large gap in the soft skills area. The only way to eliminate this problem is a finishing school. Keeping this in mind, a finishing school is all set to come up in Bangalore by this October.

The Dale Carnegie Walchand Finishing School will be set up on a 32 acre campus in Ramnagar, around 20 kilometres from Bangalore; it aims at making candidates industry-ready and will commence operations from October.

So what is this school all about and who does it cater to? Pallavi Jha, chairperson and managing director Dale Carnegie Training India Walchand PeopleFirst Ltd [Get Quote] spoke to rediff.com about the school and their plans.

Says Pallavi, "The school is aimed at keeping candidates industry-ready. In India, only 25 percent of management graduates secure jobs. Many are unsuccessful as they are not industry-ready." She explains that there are several individuals who are technically qualified, but fail to get through the interview stages. "A lot of oratory skills are required to get through the interviews and the finishing school will aim at bridging that gap," she adds.

Karnataka already has two IT finishing schools -- Dayananda Sagar Institutions and the Mysore-based Raman Institute of Information Technology. So how is this school different?

According to Pallavi, there is already a lot of talk circulating about the Dale Carnegie Walchand Finishing School, as Bangalore itself is considered the IT capital of the country. She says, "There is more stress on the IT factor as the school is coming up in Bangalore. However, it will not just cater to those candidates getting into the IT industry. The school will also train candidates aspiring to get into the banking sector, retail, manufacturing and telecom sectors." She adds that they have been approached by representatives of all these sectors to impart training to candidates, in order to make them industry-ready.

Pallavi also emphasises that those who undergo training at their institute can be assured of a placement. "That is the guarantee we give," she says. Candidates at the finishing school will undergo a four-month training programme. The stress will mainly be on pyschometric and behavioural skills. The intention is to cater to the recruitment requirements of various companies and also to fill in the gaps left by the formal education system. Moreover, the Dale Carnegie Walchand Finishing School will have trainers from the US on the faculty, which will be an added advantage to the programme. "Applications have already started coming in in large numbers and we are expecting to train at least 10,000 students during the first year itself," says Pallavi. "Admitting so many students is not a problem."

The fee structure for the course has not yet been made public. According to Pallavi, finance should be no trouble for the students as the school is in talks with a few banks, which will grant them loans. The fee that is being charged by the Raman International Institute of Technology at Mysore, about 120 kilometres from Bangalore, is Rs 75,000 for the entire course.

Pallavi explains that they are also looking at accomodation facilities for the students -- "Although accomodation will not be available during the first phase of the course, the issue will be sorted out soon." Several other state governments are also in constant touch with them to open up more such finishing schools. She says that once the Dale Carnegie Walchand Finishing School is up and running, they will look at establishing more institutes in other states. However, it was vital that a finishing school be set up in Bangalore, because the IT industry in Karnataka saw a turnover of Rs 6,750 crore last year and at present, there are around 25,000 direct vacancies in this sector.

Also one has to take into account that there are 4,00,000 engineers graduating every year, out of which only one in every four is employable in the IT sector. The IT finishing schools will solve this problem and ensure that at least three out of the four graduates each year is employable.